As a journalist & scholar, I’m inspired by @srseikaly.bsky.social’s words on @democracynow.org: “The way forward is not to be passive & obedient. The way forward is to be ethical & to stand for what is just & to stand against this Israeli genocide which—again—is armed & abetted by the United States”
Except for maybe Joseph Massad:
www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/how-...
This all shows how the @nytimes
and academia obscures, and erases the glaringly obvious connection between the far right, the liberal media, the US military, and Zionism (both Christian and Jewish).
The connection between US militarism, Zionism, and the institutionalized crusader imagery goes back to the early War on Terror (which never ended), when the US invaded Afghanistan and Iraq.
In fact, crusader imagery is not only rife among vets and soldiers, but institutionalized. The US military is a prime incubator for white supremacy, domestically and globally. Here's an example from Fort Shafter in O'ahu.
Not only does he not mention any Zionist connection to this book (I wonder if he even read it), it is asserted that because crusader symbols are widespread, it is proof that this isn't white supremacy.
In fact, I gave a talk exactly about this topic at ACMRS in Arizona State in January 2020 (and part of a in-progress article on Palestine and medieval studies). For the record, Prof. Gabriele was in attendance at my talk, which is up on youtube (youtube.com/watch?v=dcI7...)
Crusade historians, like Matthew Gabriele of Virginia Tech University, who was interviewed for this NYTimes article, are complicit in erasing the Zionist connection from white supremacist, Christian nationalist crusade appropriation.
He connects militarism to Christianity and Judaism, via Israel, while invoking some white supremacist fantasy of a thousand year old crusade (forgetting that one of the major anti-Jewish violence in the eleventh century happened in 1096 in Worms as a result of Pope Urban’s call)
His “crusade” ideology isn’t original to him or his book, and is tied to a popular far right interpretation of the Middle Ages that he copies directly from other far right actors, including Faith Goldy and Gavin McInnes, among others.
The close relationship between Zionism, militarism, and white supremacy espoused by Hegseth is very clearly documented in his book. He explicitly links the US with Israel as settler colonial societies, and biazrrely conflates fascism, Nazism, and socialism as “leftist” ideologies
Not surprisingly, even though Hegseth’s rambling racist non-sense book has over 53 references to Israel, the NY Times article (and the medieval historian they interview, Matthew Gabriele) never mentions it.
Thread on how the @nytimes
NY Times and medieval historians cover up Zionist connections to far right white nationalism. Pete Hegseth’s American Crusade book is indeed a far right, white supremacist book, incoherent as it is. (shorturl.at/p7cXx)
“Sometimes”
I wrote this to show how racism's role in the genocidal assault on Gaza is used to dehumanize Palestinians www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/isra...
